TY - JOUR

T1 - Strengthening the equity focus of applied public health research

T2 - introducing the FOR EQUITY platform

AU - Popay, J.

AU - Chekar, C.K.

AU - Griffiths, A.

AU - Halliday, E.

AU - Kaloudis, H.

AU - Leiper, R.

AU - Panagaki, K.

AU - Porroche-Escudero, A.

PY - 2023/2/28

Y1 - 2023/2/28

N2 - Objectives: Much applied health research pays insufficient attention to potential unequal impacts across social groups or is typically focused on a single dimension (e.g. socio-economic status), rarely considering the intersecting social processes driving inequalities (e.g. racism, sexism, classism). All health research needs a strong intersectional equity focus in order to inform action to reduce health inequalities as well as improve population health. Study design: Focus On Research and Equity (FOR EQUITY) is a new Web-based platform aiming to strengthen the intersectional equity focus of applied health research. Methods: The platform was developed in collaboration with members of the public, practitioners and researchers working internationally. The development involved a systematic review of academic and grey literature, a series of workshops and user testing. Results: FOR EQUITY encompasses (1) a Health Inequalities Assessment Tool, with an intersectional perspective on inequalities; (2) a FOR EQUITY Guidance Inventory providing access to a range of international research toolkits and guidance; and (3) a FOR EQUITY Library including case studies illustrating how researchers have attempted to integrate an equity lens into the research process and more general resources on health inequalities. Conclusion: FOR EQUITY can support researchers to strengthen the equity lens in their studies to make research evidence more relevant for action to reduce social and health inequalities. However, a single focus on toolkits is unlikely to sufficiently address the barriers to embedding equity in research. A mainstreaming strategy to transform the very roots of the ‘institution of research’ is required. © 2022

AB - Objectives: Much applied health research pays insufficient attention to potential unequal impacts across social groups or is typically focused on a single dimension (e.g. socio-economic status), rarely considering the intersecting social processes driving inequalities (e.g. racism, sexism, classism). All health research needs a strong intersectional equity focus in order to inform action to reduce health inequalities as well as improve population health. Study design: Focus On Research and Equity (FOR EQUITY) is a new Web-based platform aiming to strengthen the intersectional equity focus of applied health research. Methods: The platform was developed in collaboration with members of the public, practitioners and researchers working internationally. The development involved a systematic review of academic and grey literature, a series of workshops and user testing. Results: FOR EQUITY encompasses (1) a Health Inequalities Assessment Tool, with an intersectional perspective on inequalities; (2) a FOR EQUITY Guidance Inventory providing access to a range of international research toolkits and guidance; and (3) a FOR EQUITY Library including case studies illustrating how researchers have attempted to integrate an equity lens into the research process and more general resources on health inequalities. Conclusion: FOR EQUITY can support researchers to strengthen the equity lens in their studies to make research evidence more relevant for action to reduce social and health inequalities. However, a single focus on toolkits is unlikely to sufficiently address the barriers to embedding equity in research. A mainstreaming strategy to transform the very roots of the ‘institution of research’ is required. © 2022

KW - Health equity

KW - Health inequalities

KW - Intersectionality

KW - Toolkits

KW - equity

KW - public health

KW - research work

KW - article

KW - embedding

KW - grey literature

KW - health equity

KW - human

KW - intersectionality

KW - medical research

KW - physician

KW - systematic review

U2 - 10.1016/j.puhe.2022.11.018

DO - 10.1016/j.puhe.2022.11.018

M3 - Journal article

VL - 215

SP - 12

EP - 16

JO - Public Health

JF - Public Health

SN - 0033-3506

ER -